Parvez Dewan

Parvez Dewan is a former Indian administrator, author and librettist (lyricist). He was an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre. He became Secretary of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in 2011, and also the chairman of the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC). In 2012 he was appointed India's Tourism Secretary. His father was a Wing Commander who began his career in the Royal Indian Air Force and grandfather an Army Brigadier, who later became the first Indian Inspector General of Police of Jammu and Kashmir.

Dewan was educated at St Joseph's, Allahabad; St. George's Grammar, Hyderabad; Stanes, Coimbatore; The Air Force Central School, Subroto Park, New Delhi and St. Stephen's College in Delhi. He was elected President of St. Stephen's College. He received his higher education at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. Dewan was the Senior Treasurer of the CU (Cambridge University) Friends of the Earth; and active with the CU Greens and CU Mystical Society. At St. Stephen's he was awarded the L. Raghubir Singh History prize for ranking first in his class.

Career

Civil services Dewan joined the IAS and was allotted the Jammu and Kashmir cadre.

During his first posting as Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Basohli, he revived its school of miniature painting.

Dewan was the Divisional commissioner of Kashmir from 2001 to 2003.

Dewan was the Tourism Secretary of India (2012–14). He helped WoNoBo.com devise virtual walking tours of Indian cities, five in the first place, with almost fifty more to follow, making Incredible India the first national tourism authority anywhere to offer such a useful and entertaining facility.

Advisor (minister)

In 2016 Dewan was appointed Jammu and Kashmir's Advisor (i.e. cabinet minister) for twelve departments including Education, Tourism, Public Works, Culture, Health & Medical Education, Consumer Affairs, Information Technology, Youth Services and Sports. (In India ministers are elected politicians. However, sometimes when state governments are between elected governments they appoint career civil servants as ministers and call them Advisors to the Governor.)

Writer Dewan translated the Hanuman Chalisa into English, written The Names of Allah, and brought out Jesus Christ Superstar in Urdu. Dewan and Shrivastava visited Tibet after the 2008 failed uprising of Tibetans against the Chinese rule, & documented the population figures and the socio-political situation in the region.

Dewan has researched into various caste and religious groups in India. He has focused on the biased projections that the media has created for minority religious and ethnic groups within the country—and tried to compare them with similar prejudices against internal ethnic groups in Pakistan (Punjabi and Urdu cinema; textbooks), the USA (including US cinema and TV), the UK, Turkey, Indonesia, Europe (French cinema; permission to wear religion-appropriate clothing) and Africa.

Books Dewan has published twenty books till date, some of which are listed in the table below

S.No. Year Title Publisher ISBN01 1987 Hiñdî-Urdû Phrasebook: A language Survival Kit Lonely Planet, Australia 02 1989 The Civil Services: What they are all about and how to get in 20/ 20 Publications, Delhi 03 2001 The Hanûmân Châlîsâ Viking Penguin 04 2003 The Names of Allah Viking Penguin 05 2004 Parvez Dewan's Jammu.Kashmir.Ladakh: Kashmir Manas Publications 06 2004 Parvez Dewan's Jammu.Kashmir.Ladakh: Ladakh Manas Publications 07 2004 The Book of Hanuman Viking Penguin Books 08 2004 Allâh ké Muqaddas Naam (trans. Ather) Qaumi Council Bara-e Farogh-e-Urdu Zuban 09 2007 Parvez Dewan's Jammu.Kashmir.Ladakh: Jammu Manas Publications 10 2008 A history of Ladakh Manas Publications 11 2008 A history of Kashmir Manas Publications 12 2008 A history of Jammu Manas Publications 13 2009 Tibet: fifty years after Shubhi Publications 14 2010 Hanuman ji, His Vanars and His Lanka Shubhi Publications 15 2011 The people and culture of Jammu, Kashmir Ladakh Manas Publications 16 2011 The Other Kashmir Manas Publications 17 2012 Jammu Kashmir Ladakh: Natural Heritage Manas Publications 18 2012 Amazing Ladakh Manas Publications 19 2013 Amazing Kashmir Manas Publications 20 2013 Religion in Jammu Kashmir Ladakh Manas Publications

Journalism As a college student Dewan was for three years the Campus Correspondent of The Hindustan Times Evening News. During the same period, for Youth Times [a Times of India publication] he reviewed music (mainly Western popular and classical) and did the Hodge Podge column under the pseudonym Ponga Muni.

Indian Express wrote about Dewan:

Parvez Dewan seems to have that rare quality to poke fun at himself. On the author’s profile page of his latest book on Kashmir, this J&K IAS officer has candidly revealed some interesting facts about himself. “Most of the publications that Parvez has written for have folded up (Youth Times, JS, The Hindustan Times Evening News, The Metropolitan on Saturday, Shama (Urdu) and such sections of The Times of India as he regularly contributed to)”, it mentions. “The venerable Illustrated Weekly of India wrote a long story about how Parvez created the Ladakh Festival in difficult circumstances. That was its last issue,” it carries on.

At another point, it talks about two of his ‘libretti’ having been recorded as rock operas in Denmark, and a third telecast on Britain’s Channel Four, adding: "And none of the three was ever heard of again."

A fourth pop-opera, Sanober and the Slave has had somewhat better luck. In 2012 it spent more than three months at no. 1 on reverbnation.com's DK charts for Indie (Independent), thanks to the much acclaimed music of Kim Barner, his Danish partner in rhyme. The complete lyrics/ libretto/ book can be read at https://sanoberandtheslave.blogspot.com/; the complete musical with music and vocals can be heard at reverbnation.com/barner

Libretti/ lyrics Dewan has written some libretti. The status of the pop-operas of which he has written the libretti (lyrics) and which were conceived by him is.